A’s take sole possession of AL wild-card lead with win

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Josh Donaldson of the A's rounds first base after hitting a three run home run during the fourth inning against the Cleveland Indians.

Josh Donaldson smacked a three-run homer and the A’s extended its winning streak to five games with the 8-4 win over the Cleveland Indians.

Yoenis Cespedes and Josh Reddick each had three hits and an RBI as the A’s took a one-game lead over Baltimore atop the American League wild-card standings.

Left-hander Travis Blackley (5-3) went 5²⁄³ innings in a spot start and allowed two runs on three hits as Oakland won for the 11th time in 13 games and beat the Indians for the seventh straight time. Ryan Cook went 1¹⁄³ innings for his 13th save.

Jason Donald hit his second homer of the year in the third to snap the Indians’ 24-inning scoreless streak, but it wasn’t enough to prevent Cleveland’s 13th loss in 14 games.

Corey Kluber (0-3) struck out a career-high seven but gave up four runs — three earned — on eight hits in six innings.Donaldson erased a 2-0 deficit by hammering a two-out blast in the third inning to put Oakland ahead for good. The A’s made it 6-2 in the seventh on an RBI double by Seth Smith and run-scoring single by Chris Carter.